From Disorder To Order:a Study Of The Nekuia Of Odyssey

On the view of the voyage to the underworld（nekuia）,this study illustrates the construction of order in The Odyssey,revealing the connection between the structure and the ideal of Homer’s epic,and the relationship between order and humanity in it.Odysseus,a warrior from Ithaca who triumphed at Tory,wandering to find a way home,went to the dark side when his men and himself lost all the order,to explore the causes of disorder,and to ask for an oracle of the dead.Devastated and depleted,Odysseus returned to his hometown safely,and reestablished order for himself,his family and public.The nekuia in Book 11 and the first 204 lines of Book 24 provide a certain degree of connection to the construction of order in The Odyssey.The first chapter outlines the action and speech of Odysseus’ men,clarifying their disorderly state and the V-shaped structure of the disorder―order and the reflection of it.The nekuia is a turning point to the both.The crew’s lust for sex and food,as well as the captain’s loss of identity made the fleet totally disorder.The journey to Hades also gave the protagonist an opportunity to explore human nature and to reflect on his own identity.The second chapter moves on to an analysis of Odysseus’ journey to the underworld.There are three categories of ghosts in the underworld— Ordinary people,Trojan heroes,and Legendary figures.With the interaction between Odysseus and the ghosts,the epic presents the basic human nature— piety,reason and love,clarifies an inevitable transformation of the hero of war into the hero of the state,and connects human justice with order.The third chapter focuses on the prophecies of Tiresias and Kirk in Book 11,and on the second nekuia in Book 24,illustrating the importance of reason,love and justice of gods in the order of individual,family and city.There is a paradox of justice in the protagonist’s actions,which related to an oath of Zeus,completing the V-shaped structure of order.It also alludes to the conflicts in the new order of peace,so that the V-shaped structure of order reconstruction is extended.The concluding concludes the V-shaped structure,by discussing the meaning of it,and uncovering it’s influence on later philosophy and literature.On the one hand,the poet’s reflections on the disorder and contradictions of order have lighten up the reflection of ancient philosophers.On the other hand,since Homer’s epic,the journey to the underworld has become a typical image for literary to reflect on the relationship between the individual and society,the self and the other,life and death,and the ideal order and the social rules,etc.Given the literary archetype of the underworld,subsequent,western literature explored the ideals of order and the existence of the mortal in different ages.